Etymologically
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bière

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bière1 beer

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bjɛʁ/[1]

Forms

bière f (plural bières)[1]

Etymology

The drink is a word of Germanic origin, borrowed from Middle Dutch bier or Middle High German bier;[2][3][4][5][1] Rey thinks Dutch influence was the stronger, since brewing and hop growing were developed in Flanders and the Low Countries, though German beers were also well known.[2] The word came with a new technique, beer made with hops, and in the 15th century it displaced cervoise, of Gaulish origin, a similar drink made without hops.[2][3]

Rey traces the Germanic word, to which Old English bēor corresponds, to Medieval Latin biber (“a drink”), a monastic word, the clipped infinitive of bibō (“to drink”) used as a noun (see boire); Wiktionary gives Proto-Germanic *beuzą.[2][1] Compare Italian birra.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1429, in a text from Dieppe.[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Olivier de Serres (16th century) describes beer as a grain drink with different names in Lorraine, England, Scotland, Flanders and further north.[6] Petite bière (17th century), weak beer brewed from grain already used, as opposed to strong beer, gave the familiar ce n'est pas de la petite bière “it is no small matter” (1790);[2][7] Désaugiers (1822) has je n'suis plus que d'la p'tit' bière of a person.[7]

The word is also used of similar drinks: bière de mil in African French, bière d'épinette in Canada, and in Quebec bière en fût for draught beer.[2]

Timeline

  • 1429 – First record, at Dieppe.[4]
  • 15th century – It displaces cervoise.[2]
  • 17th century – Petite bière, weak beer.[2]
  • 1790 – C'est de la petite bière.[2]
  • 1822 – Used of a person, Désaugiers.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. beer: a fermented drink made from malted barley flavoured with hops, bière blonde, brune, bière (à la) pression, draught beer.[5][1]
  2. A glass of beer.[5]
  3. (familiar) Ce n'est pas de la petite bière: it is no small thing.[4][2]

bière2 coffin

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bjɛʁ/[1]

Forms

bière f (plural bières)[1]

Etymology

The coffin is inherited from Old French biere, borrowed from Frankish *bera (“stretcher, litter”) (compare German Bahre),[2][3][5][8][1] a deverbal noun from *beran (“to carry”), a verb of the Germanic root Proto-Germanic *ber- that Rey connects with the Indo-European root also seen in Latin ferō (“to carry”) and Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō).[2] Italian bara comes from Lombardic bâra, which corresponds to the Frankish word with another vowel.[2] Compare English bier.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the 11th century meaning a stretcher on which the sick, the wounded and especially the dead were carried.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Rey links its history to burial customs: from the 5th to the 8th century the dead were usually buried in the bare ground, sometimes on a plank, and the bier was often left in the grave as their bed.[2] When coffins, first reserved for the great, became common, the word came to mean a wooden coffin (late 12th century).[2][3] Before the 16th century it left its original sense “stretcher” to civière, though eastern dialects kept it; a sense “funeral” is isolated in Middle French, and “tomb” (16th century) disappeared in the early 17th century.[2]

Timeline

  • 11th century – “Stretcher, litter”.[3]
  • Late 12th century – “Coffin”.[3][2]
  • 16th century – The sense “tomb”, lost in the early 17th century.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (literary) A coffin, mise en bière, the laying of the body in the coffin.[5][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 104a